Music updates (August 2024)
It's been a while since my last music update, though it's not because I haven't been doing musical things.
Since my last update in November, I played with the SF Castaways at DumpsterFest 2023, Henry and Daniel's holiday housewarming, Gloria and Viraj's rooftop, Isabel and Patrick's garden, and Babette for Kim's retirement party; plus the Golden Gate Park Bandshell with Dumpster Love.
I saw a bunch of live music from my friends including Emily's band (rip), Alex's band (didn't catch the name), Brian's shows.cool show, Dumpster Love and the other DumpsterFest performers, Afterglow Chorus, Short Term Fun, and Keni (at her own wedding!).
For the Castaways, Daniel moved to New York, ending an era for us (remember, the original name was Daniel Li Quartet). We're still playing, sans pianist for now. Even though it was planned for a while, I find myself thinking I should have cherished our time together earlier - as musicians, and as friends who got to see each other frequently. The same goes for Joanne when she moved back to SoCal, and Andy before we parted ways for college.
On the other hand, lately I've been feeling more like a part of a musical community here in SF. I played saxophone and accordion for Dumpster Love recently - a band I met through Ted, a friend who goes back to high school (middle school, if you're really counting). At DumpsterFest, their private music festival featuring friends' bands, I ran into Grace again, someone I had first met at a funk band jam session in Mission Dolores Park a few years ago (when JLi invited me). Angel's new group mixes friends from Afterglow with the Castaways crew. In the long run, all acts are fleeting anyways. All the more reason to enjoy it.
Here's a recommendations from the past several months:
Never Tell - Luke Chiang
Luke Chiang's comeback song is worth the listen, following a long hiatus due to a health issue that affected his singing. His music is beautiful, and it's the rare treat to listen to such a deep voice.
ELOWI - Yamê
The first time I heard Yamê's song Bécane, it was through Andrea von Speed's surrealist cat TikToks. I was obsessed.
I don't pretend to understand M'bo or French, and I don't need to to enjoy this album. It's a complete work that you can listen to end-to-end, with luscious production and captivating singing+rapping.
As always, if you'd like to do anything musical, reach out! Until next time - hopefully in less than ten months.